To Kill a Coyote
by HaleyRiler
Summary: Tech is plagued by nightmares but this nightmare seems a little too real for his tastes. With Mallory presumably dead and something mysterious loose in HQ things don't spell well for the Loonatics... especially for Tech.
1. Sleep Deprived

To Kill a Coyote

Tech shuddered in revulsion and drew into himself. He sat alone in the cavernous space he called a room. His pillow was soaked from sweat and as he looked around his room he got the distinct feeling he was being watched. He knew of course he wasn't, that the nightmare had only disturbed him to the point of paranoia but tentatively he drew his blanket up to his chin and stared out into the overwhelming darkness as if expecting a figure to suddenly appear in front of him.

He'd dreamt about the Stomper again, about how he'd clutched him in his fist and squeezed to the point he was sure his bones would shatter at any second. He'd had the dream before but there was something different about this one that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was as if there'd been an audience watching as the life was crushed out of him, silently watching with a cold callous that sent chills down his spine. When he'd woken up it felt as if he'd brought the figure with him, as if it had decided to continue to watch him. It felt… hungry.

It disturbed him even more to think this and he shook his head violently to try and rid himself of the gruesome image his mind had conjured up.

Suddenly a clash of thunder ripped through headquarters and he plastered himself against the headboard of his bed as distant lightning shed an electric glow across his bed and the shadow of a figure lay at the foot of his bed, coiled in the darkness like a venomous snake.

His eyes grew wide and he found himself darting away from the bed and across the room at a speed to rival Rev's.

His ears perked up and it seemed he could hear everything, including a mechanical hiss that resonated in his ears in a way that he wasn't sure if he had actually heard it or not.

He took a deep breath and grabbed the thing closest to him to defend himself with but as the next flash of lightning illuminated the space between him and his bed he saw nothing but himself holding his desk lamp. He backed up into the corner now and clutched his knees in fright, waiting for whatever it was hiding in the darkness to attack, clutching his desk lamp so tight his fingers began to cramp.

When morning finally came he was still awake, his eyelids heavy but unwilling to close even with the light of dawn peeking in through his window and turning his bed sheets a deep blood red. Sleep however was winning the battle now as his adrenaline slowly began to wear off and finally his eyes closed and he slept with his head pressed against the corner of the wall. That is… until he heard Rev knock in quick loud succession on his door and he groaned in exasperation, thinking about whether or not it had been the wise decision to run from the creature when Rev's knocking pounded through his head like ritualistic drums.

Finally when Rev refused to stop knocking Tech forced himself up and answered the door in his pajamas, dark rings under his heavy lidded eyes telling Rev that knocking was not a wise decision.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good. Didn't you sleep? I shouldn't have knocked so loud." Rev rambled apologetically in his normal high speed banter.

Tech held his head and put up a fake smile, waving his hand as if to tell Rev to forget about it.

"What is it Rev?" he asked calmly with a small sigh, finding his head felt a little better now.

"Zadavia called… she wants to talk to you alone." Rev stated worriedly.

Tech's eyes widened in worry now and he wondered what she could want with only him for a moment before looking back at Rev.

"I'll be there in two minutes." He said resolutely and Rev nodded, taking off for the kitchen to see the others.

Tech got dressed as quickly as he could and rushed to the communications room to find Ace giving him a worried look but leaving him alone with Zadavia, closing the door behind him.

To see Ace look worried gave him a chill and he found himself looking gravely up at Zadavia.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked, taking a seat.

"Yes, Tech… I wasn't sure how you would handle the news so I asked the others to step out for a moment. Mallory Casey is dead. They found her in her cell yesterday morning lying in her bed unresponsive. I knew despite how things turned out between you two you still had history together and I knew it would be a bit of a shock." She said gently.

Tech stared for a long moment at nothing in particular before speaking up, still only staring straight ahead.

"Cause of death?" he asked slowly.

"It is assumed cardiac arrest. An autopsy will be done tomorrow to verify."

He nodded slowly, numbly before turning his attention to her once more.

"Is that all?" he asked numbly and Zadavia nodded comfortingly.

"Goodbye Tech."

"Goodbye…" he said softly and the hologram disappeared, leaving him sitting by himself in with only the light from a nearby computer to illuminate the room, "Goodbye…?" he repeated, although more of a question this time.

He had only seen Mallory two weeks ago. It was true that she hated him and he severely disappointed of the direction in which she'd taken in life but it was still a lot to take in. It was so hard to believe that such a woman COULD die. It almost seemed impossible that such a strong woman could be taken down by a heart attack. He wondered for a long moment about this and again he heard the sound of ritualistic drums pounding through his head again, only this time he was certain it was his heart that was doing to pounding and for a moment he felt as if the eyes of the creature were once again upon him and that he too would soon end up in a wooden box.

He shivered at this thought and took a brief look around to make sure that the feeling was only a feeling before pressing the button to open the door and leaving the room in darkness once more where a silvery serpent waited in the shadows just out of sight from the doorway, it's red eyes burning into Tech's back as he left, a smile seeming to grace it's metallic lips and curve them up and away from its silvery fangs.

Tech felt as if something was still watching him but he tried to move past it and concentrate on the task at hand: how to deal with the others' questions.

As if on cue, the others began peeking around the corner curiously but upon seeing his weary expression said nothing.

"Mallory died yesterday." He said hollowly, looking through them more than at them.

"I'd of thought you'd think that was a good thing. She did try to kill you after all." Duck said blatantly to which Lexi shot him a heated glare.

Tech grimaced slightly at the statement but didn't outright glare at Duck as Lexi had done.

"She was still my apprentice at one time. Despite how things turned out I never wished her dead." He explained, shaking his head.

"Hey ah… why don't we head out for some ice-cream guys? My treat." Ace offered to which Slam licked his lips and rubbed his stomach hungrily, agreeing.

"Eh, no thanks guys. I've got some work to do on my new matter density adjuster." Tech said politely with a small smile.

"Matter what?" Duck asked, confused.

"Matter density adjuster; everything is made up of matter and matter is full of empty spaces. By adjusting the placement of the spaces within the matter you ultimately change an objects size and density, allowing molecules to pass through the empty spaces of any other object's matter." Rev explained at such a high speed everyone simply stared at him blankly for a moment except Tech, who was used to the Roadrunner's high speed banter by this point and knew exactly what he was saying.

"You mean like a ghost?" Lexi asked curiously with a touch of excitement in her tone.

Tech nodded at this.

"And at the other end of the spectrum, reducing the spaces would make an object so dense a feather would have the same impact as a brick of cement." He explained.

"So you mean I could take down the stomper with one blow?" Duck asked, rubbing his hands together as he imagined flicking the killer on the nose and sending him flying into a brick wall.

Tech shuddered at the name and shook his head.

"I haven't tested it on anything living yet. I'm afraid that by increasing space between the matter that our neurons wouldn't be able to bridge the gap in time and we'd be brain dead in a matter of seconds. However if it's done proportionately at the same rate of all other changes it might work." Tech explained to which Duck's eye twitched.

Ace smirked at Duck now.

"Maybe Duck would like to volunteer to test it then. After all he hasn't got much of one to lose in the first place."

Everyone but Tech and Duck began howling with laughter and even Tech cracked a little smile in spite of himself.

"Hey… wait a minute!" Duck finally said, realizing for the first time what Ace meant.

Even Tech couldn't contain himself this time and Duck crossed his arms and pouted.

"You're despicable…" he said, pushing past Ace for the door.

Ace rolled his eyes and grinned back at Tech who was now smiling.

"Sure you'll be ok here by yourself?" he asked as the others headed out the door.

"I'll be fine. Enjoy your ice-cream." Tech said, waving his hand as if it were no big deal, "I'll see you when you get back."

Ace nodded and smiled, heading out the door.

"See you later Tech!"

Tech smiled and waved but as soon as Ace was gone he yawned dramatically and stretched, heading to his room. He'd work on the matter density adjuster after a quick nap. There was no way he could concentrate on less than an hour of sleep.

This time he was sure to leave the lights on however and simply pulled the blanket over his head.

"No demon snakes…" he yawned, checking under the blanket with a small, tired smile before passing out.

Two minutes later after he'd fallen asleep however the lights flickered out and he felt something cool and metal slide around his neck.

He swallowed dryly now and looked down to see the silvery outline of the snake coiled around his neck, its head poised directly in front of his face. Silver fangs protruded from its jaw and he saw that they dripped with something.

He froze, unable to move aside from the trembling in his chest as his heart seemed to be pounding a way out of it.

He slowly slid his hand behind the head and attempted to grab its neck but the moment his fingers touched the cool metal it struck forward and he felt the icy cool fangs slide into his neck, injecting its venom and drawing back.

He gasped and looked in horror at the snake in front of him before his vision started to swim and his limbs grew heavy. He could still feel the snake on top of him but he couldn't move to get away from it.

This was turning out to be a very, very bad day.


	2. Blur

Note: Wow... I never do notes. ^^; Well, before you start to read this I just wanted to thank everyone who faved and reviewed this! One review in particular (the only one I've gotten on this story as of yet was just amazing and I wanted to thank whoever sent it so much but unfortunately they left an anonymous review and so I had to settle for simply working my hardest on making this chapter the best I could for them (and for me of course because writing is one of my few escapes from the pressures of filling out scholarship applications and filling out paperwork left and right on top of family drama.). I just hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

To Kill a Coyote part 2

Tech wondered for a moment where he would be buried or if he would be buried at all. He drew in a labored breath now and looked directly into the snake's glowing red eyes as they watched him.

Suddenly he heard the door open to the front room and the snake instantly disappeared, leaving him alone in the darkness.

"Sorry I'm late Tech. Slam ate the cart and the ice-cream man wasn't exactly understanding about it. The others are still trying to sort out the mess… well… everyone but Duck who's trying to figure out his vacation plans. Apparently we won five tickets for some trip yesterday but because of the whole fiasco at Elpis radio station he's been trying to call to reschedule but no one will pick up." Ace said in an exhausted tone of voice that said he thought it was all some scam, "Anyway I figured I'd head back to check and see how you were doing. Rev mentioned that you looked pretty shaken this morning and with the whole Mallory thing I figured you could use some company anyway." Ace said casually, sticking his head into the lab only to find it empty, "Tech?"

Tech strained with all he had to move his lips but they simply lay, slightly parted as if he were in fact asleep.

When this didn't work he concentrated on the door handle and willed it to move. It moved just barely, a thin green coat shining over it as he concentrated but at last it swung open a little and he was able to see Ace whom he concentrated on next, attempting to do anything to draw him closer to the door.

Ace saw a faint green tinge appear in front of him now and began to get worried as a coin lifted out of his pocket and rolled to the floor near Tech's door.

"Tech?" he called again, noticing for the first time that the coyote's door was ajar, something odd considering Tech's paranoia about such things since the Stomper incident.

"Tech?" he called again, a little frightened now.

Tech tried desperately to answer but instead could only work on concentrating on the light switch which Ace noticed immediately.

Ace almost would have thought Tech was sleeping if it weren't for his labored breathing and rapid gestures with his eyes. His breathing seemed to be becoming increasingly difficult and Ace lifted him into a sitting position to which he didn't object but simply leaned over Ace like a heavy ragdoll.

Tech finally managed to gasp out one word before passing out: Poison.

"Tech? Tech?" Ace practically screamed in panic before turning to his communicator.

"Guys! I need you here right now! Something's wrong with Tech!"

When Tech woke up he found Zadavia standing over him with a tired, glazed look in her eyes that seemed to indicate that she was thoroughly exhausted and the others grouped around him with similar but worried expressions.

"I knew you looked tired before we left but I didn't think anything about it. I just figured you'd had a rough night's sleep." Rev apologized at rapid speed.

Tech tried to wave his hand instinctively to comfort him but found it harder than it should have been and he began to sweat a little as he remembered what had just happened.

"I was tired. I'd had a nightmare and at first I'd thought I was simply paranoid but then I saw something. I wasn't sure if it had been real or not but it kept me up for the rest of the night waiting for it to show itself again. When it didn't appear for the rest of the night I assumed it had only been my imagination and decided to take a nap before starting on my invention. I'd turned the lights on and checked my room again but I still didn't see anything so I lied down and tried to get some sleep. If Ace hadn't come in I guess I'd have been sleeping a lot longer than I'd ever want to." Tech relayed with a disturbed expression on his face that he couldn't hide despite his best efforts.

"What exactly attacked you?" Ace asked, concerned.

"It looked like a snake but it was cool like metal. Its fangs dripped with some sort of venom." He explained worriedly, shuddering at the thought, "Its eyes glowed slightly red before it bit me. That's all I remember about it except that it didn't seem to like the light and it disappeared as soon as I heard you come in."

"The "venom" I found in your system was a mixture of tetrodotoxin and adrenaline. Someone obviously wanted you paralyzed and terrified but they apparently overshot the amount of tetrodotoxin by just a fraction because from what Ace was telling me you were having trouble breathing by the time he got there. A small dose of the toxin blocks neural pathways and leaves one immobile but vividly aware of their surroundings. A large dose of the toxin would paralyze your respiratory system as well and you would suffocate." Zadavia explained, her tone a little less sympathetic than Tech would have expected. No matter what tone she had used however the information alone made Tech's stomach wretch and he paled significantly. He suddenly found that once again his heart was threatening to make its great escape from his chest and he laughed nervously, trying his best to cut the tension but only succeeding in making it all the more palpable.

"Rev, would you bring me my laptop please?" he asked, flexing his fingers stiffly. His typing would probably be clumsy for a while but the mere fact that he could move them meant that the toxin was working its way through his system and he would eventually recover completely… that was unless someone killed him first.

He felt the sudden urge to whine at this thought but refused to let whoever did this to him take his dignity on top of everything else. Instead his ears only fell slightly as he searched for large shipments of shellfish, especially those containing blowfish. Whoever was doing this had connections to the seafood industry, was intelligent enough to construct a robotic snake or at least attain one that had a particular aversion to the light, and had a passionate hatred or need to get rid of him.

He would take a few guesses at what this could spell but even the thought of it made him want to curl up in the corner and slam his eyes shut. If what he thought was happening WAS indeed happening he had some arranging to do and not with any of his inventions.

"There are 5 major seafood processing districts in the area who deal in shellfish." Tech said, a map of the areas appearing on the monitors around them.

"I'll take care of Tech. You five go check out the processing centers." Zadavia said resolutely and Ace nodded in agreement and started to turn to leave.

"Guys?" Tech called as they were about to leave, causing them to turn back to face him, "Be careful. The more I look at this the more and more I think it's a trap." He said worriedly.

Ace nodded and smiled comfortingly at Tech.

"Don't worry Tech we'll be fine. Just get your rest and get better so we can fight this together."

Tech nodded at this and smiled but still couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

"Just promise me you'll be careful." He said sternly, concentrating on the bed so that it turned toward them.

Ace blinked in shock at the amount of genuine concern Tech felt. He obviously suspected something horrible to happen and with the day he'd had it was no surprise.

Finally he looked at the others in agreement and nodded.

"We promise." They nodded in unison.

Tech looked a little bit more relieved now but worry still etched its way across his face and he turned his bed back to its original position to work on his laptop.

"I'll monitor you from here." Tech called after them as they left for the processing centers.

Something big was happening and it disturbed him deeply that so soon after something like this had happened his friends were splitting up across the city to track down whoever had tried to kill him. He wasn't the only one with enemies and divided they stood less of a chance against whoever was planning this. The snake could have injected him on the first night but instead it had waited until everyone was out of headquarters to do so. It hadn't wanted to take any chances while the others were in the house but he was sure of the fact that it had been watching him the entire night, waiting for him to drop his guard and for the others to leave. Perhaps the original plan was for him to alert the others that something strange was going on and to put them on alert but that seemed unlikely. To him it seemed that it had been expecting everyone to be gone that night and that his encounter with it had been purely accidental, that something had gone awry with the original plan and that whatever was happening now was a plan B of sorts.

Tech's throat suddenly went dry as his mind began to work out all the numerous possibilities of who could be behind everything and what they had planned next. Normally he would have been perfectly comfortable with being left alone with Zadavia but for some reason something just didn't sit right with him about her today. The way she'd said: I'll take care of Tech, unsettled him a bit and he watched her out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to work on his computer while activating the security system and rerouting the power to the cameras from the generators in the basement just in case.

Something was wrong with Zadavia. She seemed far too… cold. It was as if even with her back turned to him she was secretly watching him and calculating her next move. If he had to guess he didn't know any better he would assume Black Velvet had somehow affected her and warped her mind to her suggestion as she had his but of course this was impossible considering Black Velvet's disappearance into the virtual supernova resulting from the reversed polarity of the light wave eliminator.

"Mr. Super Genius… What a joke." Zadavia said with a dark chuckle, straightening up and cracking her spine loudly, "Still afraid of my little friends Tech?" she taunted, the black metallic snake slipping down her arm and onto his bed as she turned to face him, her eyes changing from their normal green to a shade of cornflower blue that shifted as fog over a lake and drew his complete attention, sucking him in and making him feel in that instant as if nothing else existed but those misty clouds swirling in her eyes.

"I'll deal with your friends soon enough. Though they aren't as intelligent as you and therefore no real threat their efforts to stop me would prove to be a considerable headache and I would much rather go without having to fight everyday for what is already mine." She said, her eyes sliding over him as cool as ice as Zadavia's appearance slowly began to melt.

Sleek blonde hair began to slowly twist into long black locks that hung at a slant over her left eye, breaking the hypnotic trance he'd been under but still filling him with a desire to again stare into their haunting depths until everything he knew faded into peaceful oblivion once again.

"Who are you?" Tech asked, shaking his head and avoiding her gaze for fear that he would fall into this temptation and lose himself completely.

"That's a good question… one you will soon know the answer to but by the time you know who _I _am you won't have a clue who you are." She grinned devilishly, sending him a sideways glance only to see he was avoiding her gaze and smirked before wrenching his chin back in her direction so that he couldn't help but stare directly into her eyes once more and fall deeper into their stormy depths, "I'm not even sure if you know now. Tell me… what's your name?" she asked silkily, a storm growing stronger within her eyes and resonating now in Tech's ears, growing louder and louder until his own thoughts seemed to vibrate.

His thoughts began to blur and it was as if they were splitting, tearing themselves apart before him and falling away in blurs of color and motion, mathematical formulas and cherished memories fading into the cyclone of sound and color until he could no longer tell what was happening and was only aware of the incredible shooting pain coursing through his mind, sending him down to his knees howling at a frequency higher than what he could hear.

He tried to cover his ears, flattening them against the side of his head and pulling them down so that they were skin tight against his skull but this did nothing to lessen the overwhelming roar within his mind or subside the pain now coursing through his entire body. The moment he was sure he couldn't take anymore everything was absolutely quiet and he fell into unconsciousness.


	3. Memory Mess

Note: Thank you so much for the reviews! I now have 2 reviews on this story! *dances happily* Thanks so much to X A Ninny Mouse X for your kind review! As promised I started on chapter 3 and finished it for you guys! I hope you like it!

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><p>To Kill a Coyote Part 3<p>

Tech awoke with a hollow feeling in his chest as if something had been ripped out of him and he was somehow missing something. He was almost afraid to open his eyes as a rancid odor met him and realized something soft and slightly wet lay just beneath him. Slowly he turned his head and opened his left eye a crack before realizing just how bright it was outside and how much his head hurt when he opened his eyes at all.

He slammed his eye closed again after realizing just what it was he was lying under and groaned loudly as he realized he had been lying passed out in a dumpster with spoiled meat or something of the like leaking from one of the many black trash bags below him.

He gritted his teeth together in anger and disgust now and hauled himself to a sitting position, not fully understanding what he was angry with but knowing in his gut that he should be angry at something because falling asleep in something so retched couldn't have been his choice. After bracing himself a moment he finally opened his eyes once more and winced before forcing himself to adjust to the light and finding his way down from the dumpster.

He stared up at the looming buildings above him in wonder now and found them faintly familiar but only in the dimmest of senses. It felt as if he had seen them in a dream once but now they had sprung to life before him and presented him with a never-ending labyrinth of mortar and steal.

He blinked at his surroundings and tilted his head to the side in confusion as he stared into his own reflection in a nearby store window featuring complicated gadgets whose function he was sure had something to do with entertainment but wasn't sure how he knew this. Green eyes stared out at him with a confused expression from the face of a coyote. He slowly looked down at his hands and studied them intently as if they held secrets they refused to share.

Giving up on his silent interrogation of his hands he gazed once again into his eyes and for an instant felt as if he recognized himself in their depths but as soon as it presented itself it was gone again and he was left once again with the hollow feeling he'd woken up with in his chest. The only difference he found now was that he understood what it was he was missing: his memory.

"Who was he?" He asked himself silently, sitting down against the wall of the alley, studying himself and wondering faintly if he had once worn clothes.

He wanted to say yes to this but the fact that he wasn't now disturbed him slightly and he suddenly felt far more exposed and frightened than he'd felt just a moment before. Eyes seemed to be watching him from everywhere even though he was at the end of a dead ended alley with no one in sight but his own reflection.

He hesitantly made his way closer to his reflection and toward the end of the alley, looking around to be sure no one else was around to see him before darting down the next alley which continued instead of simply stopping at the end as the other one had.

Making his way down the alley, heat heavy in his cheeks, he heard the sounds of laughter and exhausted conversations about how long of a day it had been and how much work had been done on technical projects impeded his progress down the alley as something about the conversations themselves seemed familiar as if he'd once had similar conversations with someone about the same topics.

After a moment of pondering on this he let his eyes edge up at the side of a tall building, its many windows seeming to bare secrets of his past just beyond his reach. He gazed intently at them now and watched as a young man in a white lab coat hung his head low over a project he carried in a cardboard box, its contents peeking just far enough out that he could make out that it was broken and slightly charred. An angry man walked behind him with slightly singed eyebrows and white hair.

"I swear it works sir! If you would just let me try again…" the boy started, clearly upset and a little afraid.

"If you as much as think about bringing that machine in here again I will be sure to see that you are expelled do you hear me?" the man shouted angrily as the boy lowered his gaze back to the box in his hands.

"Yes sir…" the boy said quietly before watching disappointedly as the man turned to walk away from him.

"I know it works. I'm sure it works…" the boy said disappointedly, making his way down the alley Tech had hidden in to find a dumpster to place his invention in.

Tech suddenly panicked and felt as if hiding were the best option but also felt as if the boy or at least his situation was familiar and instead forced himself to stay where he was half-hiding behind the dumpster.

The boy however stopped beside the dumpster and sat down instead and simply stared at his invention, pulling the remote from the box gingerly as if he were about to say goodbye to a friend instead of simply a charred box of parts that used to be a machine.

"What does it do?" Tech asked shyly, slowly revealing himself and startling the boy slightly.

"It uh… why are you naked?" the boy asked a little unsurely, looking as if he were ready to make a break for it at any second.

"Even I'm not sure of that. I woke up in a dumpster in an alley down the street like this with a splitting headache and no clue why I was there or even who I was. I'm still trying to figure that out…" Tech explained, trying to hide his best behind the dumpster again.

The boy gave him a strange look but then sighed and began pulling something out of his backpack and throwing it to him.

"Here, take my gym clothes. Don't even try to give them back though. I'm not taking them back after you've had them on." He said and Tech took them gratefully with a nod, changing into them hurriedly behind the dumpster before coming back out to meet the boy.

"So… you never answered my question. What does it do?" he asked gesturing toward the box, trying to change the awkward subject quickly.

The boy gave him another strange look but then shifted his eyes down to the box sadly and tossed the box into the dumpster.

"Nothing. It was supposed to emit frequencies of sound at such pitch that it could make glasses ring in tune to music but all it did was screech extremely loud before bursting into flames in front of the judge and taking his eyebrows off." He sighed, collapsing to the ground against the alley wall where Tech joined him after pulling the invention out of the trash and examining it.

"Well… if it makes you feel any better it looks like it wasn't your fault. The tone wheels seem to have been tied by rubber bands to keep them from spinning and a magnet has been propped up against the electromagnetic pickups. It looks like someone wanted to sabotage you." Tech said, apologetically, handing the box over to the boy slowly.

"Margret…" the boy said, picking one of the charred rubber bands up and dropping it back into the box before throwing it aside and taking off for the end of the alley.

"Thank you… uh… whatever your name is. I hope you get your memory back soon… that is IF you want to remember. I might not want to remember what happened if I was in your shoes. My name's Sam by the way, Sam Prius." He said, stopping to smile back at Tech kindly before rushing down the block after a blonde girl with glasses holding a gold trophy.

Tech watched as the boy's back disappeared around the corner and frowned to himself slightly as he started to remember a name.

"Not Margret… Mallory… Mallory Casey." He shouted to himself both with the joy of remembering something of his past and with distaste for what he remembered of her.

"And my name is… my name is…" he tried but failed, sighing dejectedly as he turned down the next street and stared at his reflection once more in a store window.

"Tech." A woman's voice called in a hushed whisper from an alley behind him, her face slightly concealed by the shadows but her voice too familiar not to recognize.

Tech looked around to make sure she wasn't referring to anyone else before following her into the shadows.

"Has she found you?" Mallory asked, looking behind him nervously.

"Has who found me?" he asked, following her gaze with a confused look on his face.

"I'm not completely sure… she had long black hair and eyes I don't even want to describe. I had been two minutes away from escaping that prison of yours when she showed up and I felt like I was drowning in a sea of light and sound before someone started to come around the corner and she took off, quickly stabbing me with something before leaving me there barely breathing. I woke up in the morgue a few hours later barely able to move but I managed to get away from there. She'd said something about one down six to go just before she left."

Tech narrowed his eyes and growled angrily as he remembered the encounter he'd had with the woman and the snake.

"At first I'd thought she meant the others in the cells but when I went back to check on them they were all completely clueless and weren't even sure who they were." She explained, "And then I thought about you and your friends. You and your friends make six. At first I wasn't concerned. After all… you did get me sent to that Hell hole twice, destroyed my invention at the university, and refused to die like the dog you are after I escaped and your friends are quite the nuisance as well but when I stopped to consider why she would want all of us out of the way I decided I'd rather save the fate of you and your friends for my own plans and concentrate on taking her out before she sends Acmetropolis back to the dark ages." She explained, earning her a fierce glare from Tech which she barely acknowledged.

"While I'm on board with stopping whoever she is and I'm grateful for your refreshing most of my memory I feel as if I have to tell you one more time: I am not a dog… I'm a COYOTE!" he growled and she smirked slightly.

"Figure of speech but nice to see you're not a zombie at least. And for the record… there's not much difference." She smirked, drinking in his reaction and enjoying how upset he could get over just a few simple words. It was childish but she couldn't help but love aggravating him even if she needed his help to stop whoever was behind all of this.

Tech continued to glare at her but realized what she was doing.

"If you want my help I suggest you behave for the rest of the trip back to jail." He said heatedly and her smile instantly fell.

"Now aren't we forgetting something? I think you need MY help to and a little more might I add considering she's after your friends. She's probably already gotten to them but if you want my help I suggest you refrain from arguing with me and trying to take me in. After all… I'm all you've got at the moment." She grinned and though he wasn't about to admit it he knew she was right.

He still couldn't even remember everything about his past. Everything was still a bit of a blur and though things were getting a bit clearer as things began to trigger his memory he was still in the dark about a few things and was even having a hard time remembering who his friends even were. If he was ever to find his friends or find himself he was going to have to work with someone he hated… at least until he got his memory back. Then the fat head was going right back where she belonged… in jail.


End file.
